Obsession
by Flame Soldier
Summary: He has to die, and I'm the one who has to kill him. One statement, made by two seperate people with the same purpose: to kill the other. The story of how this one statement slowly takes over their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Obsession  
A/N I don't own Storm Hawks. This story was the winner of my poll. I'll probably get to writing the rest of them eventually though...**

_"If you live, you win. And, just so you know, I never lose."_

_"This is the part where I claim victory." He held the crimson blade just inches from his throat. "But since you're young, I'll allow you a lifetime to savor your defeat."_

_His crimson eyes glittered as he raised his blood red blade. "This time, no mercy." _

He woke up screaming. Sitting up, he held his head in his hands and squeezed his emerald eyes shut, trying to block it all out. But closing his eyes proved to be a mistake, for it caused his nightmares to flash before his eyes once again. Opening his eyes again, he hugged his knees to his chest and let out a small whimper.

His eyes darted toward the door as it opened and he jumped to his feet as he saw the dark outline. It was_ his_ silhouette. Reacting instinctively, he snatched his blue blades, which cast the room in eerie shadows.

Blinking, he realized that no one was there. He turned off the energy blades and fell onto his back, trying to get control of his nerves. "Everything's okay..." His voice seemed to echoe back to him, sounding strangely empty.

Aerrow was no stranger to nightmares. Recently, he had been having them every night. He would have expected that he would be used to them by now, but as time went on, they began getting worse and worse...

Looking away from his shaking hands, he looked toward the door hoping that Piper or Finn or Junko would come through the door telling him that it would be alright. Even Stork would be welcomed at this point. But the Condor remained eerily silent. Even the normal clinks and clangs seemed to have stopped.

No one was coming to see if he was alright. No one knew that something was wrong. Even if they did, they wouldn't understand.

Getting up, he opened his door. He would go talk to Finn... No, he decided, closing the door again. He couldn't talk about this with Finn, or anyone else. "I have to deal with this myself... No one can help me..."

Sitting back on his bed, he closed his eyes, thinking. Why was he having these nightmares? What was he afraid of? Was he afraid of dying? Of failing his friends? Or of the Dark Ace himself? There were a lot of questions, but there was one thing he did know. He had to defeat Dark Ace once and for all.

"He has to die, and I'm the one who has to kill him."

* * *

He was infuriated. Why? Why was that punk better than him? Why couldn't he defeat him?

Dark Ace's crimson eyes narrowed. He would have to train harder. That was the only solution.

_"You're training too hard, Dark Ace," Master Cyclonis commented as she watched him destroy a training dummy._

_Sighing, he pulled his shirt back on. "It's the only way to defeat Aerrow, Master. I have to..." He glanced back at the destroyed dummy. "And we'll be needing another one of those..."_

_"Why do you care about Aerrow so much? He's only a minor irritation to our plans..."_

_"No one defeats the Dark Ace," he replied. "No one. I never lose!"_

_"No one can win all the time," Master Cyclonis commented dismissively. "Not even you."_

He glared at the ground. The master was wrong. He would win. He had to. If he managed to kill Aerrow, it would prove that he was the best.

"He has to die, and I'm the one who has to kill him!"

**A/N The chapters on this might vary from drabble size to something longer... Anyways, I hope you like this!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Obsession Chapter 2**

Sometimes, Dark Ace really just couldn't understand his master. He was a failure. He had never defeated Aerrow. He had failed... and yet...

She never reprimanded him, like she would Ravess or Snipe. Instead, she would just stand there, cool and collected as she listened to his latest failure. She didn't show it, but he knew.

He knew that she was disappointed in him. He could feel her dissatisfaction bubbling under the surface. She wasn't angry with him, however. Then again, she didn't need to be.

He already felt enough anger for both of them.

"Well no more." His whispered voice seemed to fade away into the darkness of his room. "No more failures. I need to succeed. I need to succeed for my Master... I need to succeed for myself."

* * *

Aerrow stared up at the gray morning sky, having not been able to fall back to sleep. Taking a deep breath, he let the sweet damp air fill his lungs before releasing it almost reluctantly.

He wondered how long it would be before his friends were up. Not that he minded being alone, in fact, he would rather be alone right now. He had a lot of things to think about. Things that his friends would never understand.

They were content to knock their enemies of their skimmers, only to have them recovered and ready to fight them the next day. He used to be content with that, but now... Now he wanted more. He wanted... closure. He wanted the war to end, and the only way it would end was if Cyclonia ran out of soldiers to throw at them.

He had never thought that he would have to kill someone. If he had known, would he have even become a Storm Hawk in the first place?

"Could I do it?" he wondered aloud. "Could I really kill someone?" He closed his eyes and an image of the Dark Ace standing over him, his blade stained with blood was conjured in his mind. "I don't have a choice... I have to... I'm a Sky Knight and I've taken an oath. An oath to defend Atmos from the forces of darkness." He nodded to himself, a sense of justification reached in his mind.

He needed to do it, it was for the good of the Atmos.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Aerrow, you look tired," Piper commented. "Didn't you get enough sleep last night?"

"I'm fine," Aerrow replied. "Now what's our mission?"

She glanced at Aerrow for a moment before turning her attention to the map that was unfurled on the table. "Now, there's a shipment of crystals that are due on Terra Atmosia right about here..." She placed a little marker on the map. "Our mission is to protect it from any Cyclonian raiders... Or Murk Raiders for that matter. Understand?"

"That's it?" Finn questioned. "Man, this is going to be one easy mission!"

Aerrow stared down at the map for a moment. "Does the ship really need to be escorted? I mean..." He placed his finger on a nearby point on the map. "The Dark Ace has been spotted over here."

Piper furrowed her brow. "What does the Dark Ace have to do with anything?"

"If anyone is going to raid that crystal ship, it's going to be him," he replied. "We should just go and take him out before he has a chance."

"We don't know if the Dark Ace is still over there, Aerrow," she replied. "Besides... What if Ravess or Snipe attack the ship? Then it will be defenseless!"

Aerrow hesitated a moment, mulling it over. "Yeah... I guess you're right, but..." he tipped his head to the side, not entirely sure what his but was. Surely protecting a crystal carrier was more important to the Atmos at the moment? "Alright... Fine... Let's just get this over with."

* * *

"Ravess, I'm placing you in charge of the raid of the crystal shipment," Master Cyclonis said, pointing at a spot on the map. "I have a feeling the Storm Hawks will show up, so-"

"Storm Hawks?" Dark Ace had been thinking of other things than the briefing, but hearing the Storm Hawks being mentioned peeked his interest. "Perhaps if the Storm Hawks are going to be there, it would be best if I were there."

Ravess's eyes narrowed, slightly offended. "I assure you that I can handle it, Master."

"Like you've been able to handle them so far?" Dark Ace retorted. He was being rude to his comrade, he knew. At the moment though, he cared little. He was sick of Aerrow, and this mission would be the quickest way to end it.

"You haven't been able to handle them any better!" she snapped back. "Who was it that ended your winning streak?"

His crimson eyes darkened dangerously, and she winced, realizing that bringing up Aerrow was the wrong thing to do.

Master Cyclonis looked vaguely amused at all this. "You're really adamant about your rivalry with Aerrow, aren't you?" She didn't wait for him to respond. "Very well then... You're squadron is still recovering from its last battle, but I'll let you fly with Ravess's squadron. But you're be _under_ her command, understand?"

"Yes, Master," Dark Ace replied, bowing toward her.

Ravess just bowed her head, a gleam of irritation in her eyes.

* * *

Aerrow flew next to the crystal carrier, his eyes almost glazed over with boredom. What was the point of escorting the stupid thing? Nothing was happening...

"Aerrow, something's coming up on radar," Stork said through the communicator. "It looks like a Cyclonian air ship. It should be here any- oh, there it is."

Aerrow glanced over his shoulder, spotting the large Cyclonian airship. He watched as the airship spat out a group of Talons. He hissed in frustration as a familiar overture began to play. "Ravess..." He scowled in disappointment. Taking out his blades, he prepared to take Ravess down. His heart skipped a beat, however as he heard a familiar laugh.

"Surprised to see me, Aerrow?" The man had his long crimson blade drawn and was flying toward Aerrow at top speed.

"Dark Ace!" Aerrow's stomach trilled with both excitement and fear. This was it; his chance to take the Dark Ace down! He smirked as he raised his blue blades, ready to fight. "Not at all. In fact, I had a feeling that you might show up..." He snapped his sword up in order to block a slice from his enemy's blade. He jabbed his other blade forward in a thrust towards the Talon's stomach.

Dark Ace grabbed Aerrow's wrist before the Sky Knight's blade could connect with his stomach. "You're going to have to do better than that, Aerrow," he hissed. He pushed Aerrow's wrist back as he jumped to his feet. Aerrow became unbalanced for a moment and was just barely able to duck below a swing at his head. Quickly rising to his feet, the Sky Knight feinted to the right before swinging his blades in a whirling motion toward the Dark Ace's left side.

Dark Ace pulled his skimmer to the side, widening the space between the two skimmers and causing Aerrow's weight to be too far forward. As the Sky Knight faltered, he shot two laser blasts at him. The bolts were batted away by the twin blades, and a blast was sent back in retaliation.

The Talon Commander leapt backwards to avoid the blast, landing on the wing off his skimmer, dipping it sideways slightly. Standing up, Dark Ace held his blade back with one arm and extened the other forward, making a challenging motion with two fingers.

Aerrow growled a bit in his throat and made a move to jump onto the Talon Commander's skimmer, but his radio activated.

"Aerrow, dude! Where are you? We're getting clobbered!" Finn's voice sounded stressed. "Piper's already down, it's just me and Junko versus an entire squadron! We need you!"

The Sky Knight blinked and glanced back as he realized how far he had strayed from the battle. "Not now, Finn, I'm in the middle of something!"

"But Aerrow! We- Argh!" his voice cut off suddenly.

"Finn? Finn!"

"Not getting cold feet now, are we Aerrow?" Dark Ace asked with a smug grin.

Aerrow glanced at the Dark Ace for a moment, then back at the battle. If both Fin and Piper were gone, that left just Junko and Stork on the Condor... But if he left now, the Dark Ace would get away again... "No way," Aerrow hissed. "This ends now."

"Aerrow! This is Junko! I could really use your help right now..."

Aerrow winced. He was really letting his team down... He glared back at his nemisis. "Sorry, Dark Ace. Maybe another day."

"No!" Dark Ace growled. "You were right! This ends now!" He sent a couple of blasts at Aerrow, who dove his skimmer down, dodging them easily.

"Aerrow, great news!" Stork's voice came over the radio. "We've got reinforcements. The Rebel Ducks _and_ the Red Eagles just showed up."

Aerrow grinned. "That's great Stork." He smiled at Dark Ace. "Looks like our battle can continue." He flew towards the Talon Commander at top speed and smashed one of his blades toward him, only to have it blocked by the large crimson sword. The large sword then slashed straight at Aerrow, who caught it with blades on both sides. It became a contest of strength and the two warriors shoved against each other, both trying to prove just who was the better. Dark Ace smiled as he began slowly pushing closer and closer to Aerrow.

"Dark Ace, retreat!" Ravess's voice broke through his concentration, letting Aerrow regain some lost ground.

"Busy," he grunted, his muscles straining at the effort of keeping Aerrow at bay. Their blades scraped againt each other, sending purple sparks flying ad red pushed against blue.

"I'm giving you an order! Get out of there now, we're outnumbered!"

"No." Dark Ace narrowed his eyes angrily. "No one gets in my way. This needs to end now!"

"May I remind you who Master Cyclonis put in charge?"

His eyes narrowed further, and the dark haired man hissed in frustration. Pulling his blade back, he pulled away from Aerrow. "You're lucky, Aerrow. Lucky that I respect my master more than I hate you... Perhaps another day." Inwardly cursing Ravess he began flying away.

"No!" Aerrow shouted. "Get back here! We haven't finished."

Dark Ace just glanced back, wishing that he could. He flew up to Ravess and glared at her intensely. He waited until she flinched away from his gaze before speaking. "I'm warning you, Ravess... If you ever interfere with my duel with Aerrow again, I swear, it won't matter who's in charge! If you get in my way, I swear that I'll take you down!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"If Dark Ace hadn't been spending his whole time chasing after that boy, I wouldn't have failed!" Ravess hissed, kneeling before Master Cyclonis.

Dark Ace's eyes sparkled with anger. "May I remind you that it was _you_ who called the retreat, Ravess?"

"Only because _you_-"

"Enough, both of you," Master Cyclonis cut in. "Ravess, you were in charge. It was your responsibility. That means this failure is your fault."

Her eyes narrowed visibly, but Ravess was smart enough to nod. "Yes Master... I apologize for my negligence."

"Don't let it happen again. Dismissed."

Dark Ace turned and left. Ravess's irritation was almost a tangible substance in the air. He gave her a contemptuous glance before turning to go to his quarters. He glanced back at her once as he felt her glare on his back.

Her anger overwhelmed the slight fear she had of him. "You... You fool! You've made me look like a fool in front of Master Cyclonis!"

He rolled his eyes. "No... You made yourself look like a fool. Perhaps next time you won't have such rash judgment when we're in a battle."

"Rash judgment? I'm not the one chasing after that boy all the time! I at least focus on the mission! You need to stop wasting your time!"

His eyes sparked and he turned around in full to face her. "Wasting my time? I think I'm a better judge of what wastes my time then you." He didn't yell; yelling wasn't his style, even when his anger and irritation at the sharpshooter was mounting. "Why don't you keep your little perfectionist nose out of my business! Why don't you instead work on improving yourself instead of blaming your failure on others!" He took a step forward.

Her eyes widened with fear, Ravess stumbled back a few steps. It took Dark Ace a moment to realize that he had drawn his energy blade without realizing it. Its red blade cast shadows across his face as he gazed into it. He extinguished the blade and eyed Ravess for a moment. He knew the proper thing to do would be to apologize. But not caring, he turned on his heel and stalked away from her.

He made his way to the training room. He had some anger to work out. That and he still wasn't strong enough to defeat Aerrow...

* * *

"Dude! Do you know what it's like down there?" Finn demanded, his eyes narrowed. "It's pretty scary!"

"I know, Finn," Aerrow replied. "I know... Sorry."

"Where were you?" he asked. "I could've been killed, and you weren't there to have my back! I thought we were wingmen!"

"We are," the Sky Knight replied. "It's just... The Dark Ace...."

"Dark Ace! Dude! He was totally there as a distraction to you! If the Rebel Ducks and Red Eagles hadn't shown up..."

"I said I was sorry!" Aerrow nearly shouted. "What more do you want?"

"This always happens when he shows up!" Finn snapped. "You always go off and leave the rest of the squadron to fend for themselves! And everyone calls _me_ irresponsible?"

"As a Sky Knight, I have a duty to rid the Atmos of that evil man forever! I'm not being irresponsible!"

"You left your squadron alone and outnumbered while we were trying to protect something! Dark Ace wasn't even trying to hit the carrier!"

Aerrow's eyes narrowed. "Look, Finn, it's not my problem that you're always getting shot down!"

Finn glanced away angrily and said nothing more. Aerrow turned and began to march away. He stopped when he felt Piper's hand on his shoulder.

"Finn's just upset, don't worry about him," she assured him.

He shrugged her off. "I'm not."


End file.
